FullMetal Anthology
by AvatarfanDillonKurosaki
Summary: Each chapter will be a short story of its own. If you have any suggestions for new shorts, please let me know. This story will be prepared for new chapters any time you make a suggestion. With that, I hope you enjoy.


**Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Anthology**

 **Chapter 1: Full Metal** **Auto-mail**

Edward Elric smiled to himself as the train trekked forth, watching Winry Rockbell waving goodbye to him, a brilliant smile spread wide across her face and her cheeks rosy from the blushing she'd done as Ed had proposed to her. She waved continuously, not bothering to wipe her eyes despite the fact that she was crying a steady stream down her cheeks and dripping onto her coat and the ground. He'd never seen Winry so happy, but he knew he was lucky to have such an amazing woman to call his and, no matter what happened on his journey to the west, he had to come back to her and marry her.

Winry Rockbell nearly sobbed with joy as she stood watching the train slipping further and further west, leaving the small town of Risembool far behind and leaving her waiting, as she found she always was. She smiled through the tears as she watched the only man she could ever love slipping further and further away on a new adventure. She could only pray that he would return to her safe and sound as she finally stopped waving as the train slipped out of sight. As the train finally disappeared from sight, she wiped her eyes and stared into the deep, blue sky.

"Oh Ed," she said, wiping her eye again, as another tear rolled down her cheek. "I love you so much. Please come back to me. I'll always be here waiting."

As she stood looking into the sky, Pinako walked up to stand beside the girl.

"So," she said, after a few moments of silence, staring into the sky with her granddaughter. "He finally asks and disappears for who-knows-how-long. Whether or not he wants to admit it, he's just like his father." Pinako's smile faltered as she thought of her old friend, Hoenheim. She remembered the man she'd known for so long as he sat over his wife's grave, a peaceful smile on his face, his hair a light gray and his face suddenly much more aged as he passed away. Pinako remembered planning the funeral herself, making sure there was enough space to bury him beside his beloved wife, Trisha. Pinako sighed heavily, sadness pouring from her as she thought about him and Trisha and, now, even her own son and daughter-in-law.

"Grandma," Winry began, a strange sob escaping her lips as she continued to look at the sky. Pinako looked at her granddaughter, skeptically, waiting for her to speak. "How can you handle all the waiting?"

Pinako stared at her granddaughter as she thought of how to respond to the question. After a long while of thinking and deliberation, she believed she had a good answer for the girl, albeit a cheap one.

"Some of the best things in life are worth waiting for," she said, simply to her, looking out over the rolling, tree-covered hills before them with the exposed town and townspeople. "I believe that boy will be back soon, and, when he comes back, you just have to be ready. Don't hide anything from him anymore and he won't hide anything from you, I'm sure."

Winry looked down at her grandmother, tears still streaming down her face as she smiled, softly.

"Yeah," she said, wiping her eyes. "You're right."

After another long silence, Pinako grabbed her granddaughter's hand and held it tight in hers.

"Come on," Pinako said softly as she squeezed her granddaughter's hand. "Let's go home."

With that, the two women walked quietly off the platform and back to their home.

********** One Year and Six Months Later******************

Edward Elric trudged through the western train station. His research had yielded few, if any, results. He looked at his pocket watch, checking the time since he had to catch a specific train to get home when Winry and Granny were expecting him. As he checked the time, he heard the overhead speaker sounding off loudly, providing information about the train that was arriving in the city and would be departing to West City in Amestris. From there, he would have to catch his connection to Risembool.

He rummaged in his pocket for a moment, withdrawing the tickets that Winry and Granny had sent him when he'd sent them a letter giving them a rough time-frame of when his research would be complete in the west. He'd traveled to many countries in the western regions, but was astonished to find that many of them had no use for alchemy. Only the countries, it seemed, that were near Amestris and Xing knew anything of alchemy and only the ones immediately bordering had practices of their own, which, Ed had found, most were similar to the alchemists of Amestris or the alkahestrists of Xing. The further he had gone into the world, the less anyone knew of alchemy, reducing it to simple magic and conjuring tricks and discounting it all together.

Oh how Ed wished he hadn't sacrificed his powers at that point. He would've loved to show them that it was all real, but, alas, he could not. Eventually, he found that the world, without alchemy, used a very complex process known as 'chemistry' to perform certain things similarly to alchemy but it was all very hands on and required careful measurements and mathematics and took large quantities of time to complete. To go with the different system, different laws existed that were totally different yet the same as the alchemic law of equivalent exchange.

He had bought a few textbooks and gotten research notes from many prestigious researchers in the field of chemistry and was ready, and happy, to bring them to his little brother to show him what little he'd found.

As he boarded the train, he took one last look back at the western country and waved to the small family that had put him up since he was staying in the West. He smiled at the little girl and tossed her one of his old alchemy basic books to remember him by. With that, he pulled himself aboard the train and it left the station, picking up speed, since it was an express direct to West City with no stops in between. As Ed sat down aboard the train, he couldn't help but be impressed by how few people were riding and how much space he had. He pulled a little lever and leaned back in his seat as the train gradually picked up speed.

Within minutes, Ed had fallen asleep aboard the train.

In his dreams, he found himself on a grassy knoll, a gentle breeze blowing through the trees as he stood alone. He smelled rain on the wind as he looked at his surroundings, uncertain of where he was. A hazy voice reached out to him as he continued to search for signs of where he was.

"Ed!" he heard a feminine voice yelling from a distance. "Ed, please!"

"Please what?" he asked, spinning in circles, and looking all around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Please come back to me," she said. As she said this, he finally realized who it was he was hearing and he felt warmth flowing down his face and he started to cry softly.

"Winry," he said, twisting and turning all about, trying to find her. "Winry?... Winry?!.. WINRY!"

"Ed," she replied, softly, almost right in his ear. "It's ok. I'm ok."

"Where are you?" he asked, still searching everywhere for her.

Suddenly, he saw her at the opposite side of the field, her head bowed and her hands clutched to her chest as tears fell from her eyes. She lifted her head to look at him and he saw her smiling as the tears continued to flow.

Relieved to have finally found where she was, he smiled softly and started to walk towards her. As he continued walking, however, he never seemed to get any closer. If anything, he seemed to have gotten further from her. As he realized this, he began to frantically speed up, soon at a dead sprint, his right hand outstretched as he tried to grab her hand.

"Winry!" he shouted, finally starting to get closer but still out of reach. "Winry, take my hand!"

She reached for his hand, her eyes focused on his hand as the distance seemed impossible to get through. As he continued to run, he saw her begin to turn to dust and, when his hand finally found hers, her hand turned to sand in his and her entire body began to fall apart and turn to sand as he tried to catch up to her.

"Winry! Winry NO!" he shouted, never seeming to be able to cross the distance.

"I love you, Ed," she said, smiling again as the tears became sand grains falling from her cheeks as she was almost finished fading away.

"Please don't go!" he shouted as he ran to her, still unable to reach her.

"I'll be waiting for you," she said with a gentle, loving smile before the rest of her body and being faded from existence in his dream.

"Winry!" Ed shouted, waking from his dream and scrambling with his arms outstretched, trying to reach for her but finding no one there. He looked around himself to find that he was still on the train, and there were still nearly no other passengers on the train. He sat back in the seat, wiping some of the sweat from his brow and looking out the window.

His heart nearly stopped as he jumped up from his seat and scrambled for his things, looking at the time and hearing the conductor announce they would be leaving in one minute.

As the doors train began to role, Ed flung his bags and himself onto the platform, landing roughly.

"As dramatic an entrance as always, Ed," Pinako said, looking down on the young man lying on his back.

"Gee, thanks Granny," he said with a frown before getting up and brushing himself off and standing up. As he finished brushing himself off, he looked around the platform and didn't see Winry. His heart skipped a beat, thinking of the dream he'd had on the train. "Say, Granny..." he began.

"What is it, Ed?" Pinako said, looking back over her shoulder, since she had started to walk off the terminal already.

"Where's Winry?" he asked.

Pinako simply looked forward, silently, before continuing walking.

"Don't worry about her, Ed," she said, lightly. "We'll see her soon enough."

Ed's heart began to race in his chest, his curiosity growing to a fevered pitch. As his nerves began to get the better of him, he picked up his luggage as though it weighed nothing and sprinted after the older woman.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, frantically, carrying his things in his hands.

"Exactly what I said," Pinako said as she continued walking, not looking at him.

As he realized he couldn't get her to tell him anything, he agreed to silently walk home with her. As they approached the house, he noticed a freshly painted sign sitting out front for the shop. It was very professionally done and he noted that as he continued walking into the home. Everything was very neat and organized and, if they were busy, he couldn't tell, because the house was spotless. No automail or tools or nuts or bolts were anywhere to be seen in the house, and even the workshop was neatly organized.

 _Winry is never this organized,_ Ed thought. _Something has to be wrong._

"Hey Granny," he said, softly as he walked into his typical bedroom that he stayed in while visiting and sat his luggage down. "Why is it so clean in here? That's not like Winry at all. Usually, all of her things would be strewn everywhere as she worked."

"I couldn't very well have guests over to see her with the place looking like that, now could I?" she replied, still not looking at him as she answered.

"Wait, what?" he said, confused and turning to face her. "Who was here to see her and why?"

"Everyone came to see her," she replied, softly, still not meeting his intense gaze. "The Hughes, Mustang, Miss Hawkeye, Miss Ross, Alphonse and Mei, even the new emperor of Xing came to see her."

Ed's heart was racing at this point and he could feel the panic growing in his chest.

"Why were they coming to see her?" he asked, softly.

"You'll see, tomorrow," Pinako replied, equally softly. "I don't want you going in rags to go see her, though." She went to the closet and brought a nice suit to him. "She has been waiting for you for a long time. You should make it special."

With that, Pinako walked out of the room. Not one more word was spoken between the two of them for the rest of the night. After he ate dinner alone with Pinako, he walked up to Winry's room, knocking tentatively on the door, with no reply. He saw no light coming from within the room, either.

As the night progressed he became more and more frantic, remembering his dream and trying not to think about it.

The next morning, after he couldn't sleep all night long, he woke to Pinako banging around in the kitchen making breakfast for him. After he ate, she looked at him, her emotions unreadable under the glasses and he stared back at her.

"You should go get ready to see her," Pinako said, softly, grabbing the dishes and washing them.

Ed nodded and walked upstairs, washing himself up and looking in the mirror. As he slid the suit on, he could barely contain his disbelief.

 _This can't really be happening,_ he thought as he buttoned up the very finely tailored suit. _She can't really be gone, can she?_

After he was fully dressed, he went downstairs to the den, where he found Pinako sitting on the couch in a nice, small dress.

"Are you ready?" she said, still unreadable as she stood.

He nodded nervously, following Pinako out the door and they began to walk out in the countryside.

"Where are we going?" Ed asked, noticing that the graveyard normal graveyard wasn't in this direction.

"We are going to say goodbye to Winry Rockbell," Pinako said, astonishingly flatly, as though she had said the tire on a car was flat.

Ed stopped, his eyes wide and the sadness in his chest welling up and nearly boiling over. He felt tears begin flowing down his cheeks, dripping onto the ground below. He doesn't know he was still able to stand because his legs felt as though they couldn't support the world.

As his emotions surged, he cast his gaze down and turned around, beginning to walk back to the automail shop.

 _It all makes sense now,_ he thought. _The house was way too clean. Winry's room being empty and dark. Everyone coming to visit Granny. How could I not have seen it?!_

As he walked away, he felt Pinako's hand take his and she stopped him.

"What?" he asked, barely able to keep from sobbing as the tears rolled off his nose and his hair covering his cast-down face.

"Where are you going?" she retorted, angrily.

"I can't," he said, softly. "I just can't say goodbye to her."

"So you're gonna tell me that my granddaughter waited all this time for you and this is what you give her to wait for?" Pinako shouted at him.

He opens his eyes widely, realizing that she was right. He had to go see her. After all, she'd waited all this time for her.

After he regained his composure, Edward began to walk with Pinako again. They continued walking for nearly ten more minutes, until the reached a large grassy knoll with a massive oak tree standing in the center of it. He immediately recognized it as the place in his dream. As he remembered this, he felt the tears building in his eyes again. He noticed the large stone at the base of the tree.

 _That must be where she is,_ he said as he began walking towards the tree.

As he approached the tree, he caught movement in the corner of his eye from something or someone on the road and turned to see all of his and Winry's friends from central and even Al and Mei walking over to the tree, leaving behind a line of eight cars alongside the country road.

"Hey, Full Metal," Mustang said, looking at the young man.

"Colonel," Ed replied, grimly. "Nice to see Doctor Marcoh brought back your eyesight with that stone."

"Good to see you're healthy," Hawkeye said, patting his shoulder lightly.

"You too, Riza," Ed replied and noticed the slightly swollen belly. "And congratulations on the child."

"Oh," Riza said with a smile. "Thank you."

Ed smiled weakly, remembering the time Winry delivered a baby when they first went to rush valley. He smiled sadly at the memory.

"So why are all of you hear?" he asked the group.

"We're here to see the ceremony," Lieutenant Ross replied, walking up to Ed and holding him in her arms. "And I just want you to know all of us are always here for you."

With that, Pinako took Ed's hand and stood him beneath the tree before walking off somewhere. Ed was sure she was grabbing some things to do a second funeral, when, all of the suddenly, he heard one of the soldiers' trumpets or bugles or whatever he had start playing Wagner's 'Bridal Chorus'. As his confusion built, he turned to look for Pinako, but when he found Pinako, his eyes widened and his collapsed to his knees as the tears flowed down his face.

Pinako was leading Winry, all dressed in a beautiful white dress, in a straight line between all the guests and straight towards him. As the tears flowed down his face, it was all he could do from sprinting down the aisle and sweeping Winry in his arms and off her feet. As Winry came to stand in front of him and he had stood back up, he saw Mustang standing before them, smiling.

As the ceremony proceeded, Ed could hardly contain his disbelief and Winry's cheeks were bright red from blushing so much. When it came time for the rings and Alphonse brought his brother the ring and Riza brought Winry the other, Ed nearly put the ring on the wrong finger.

The ceremony seemed to drag on forever and, yet, at the same time, it seemed like he never wanted it to end. As he thought this, Mustang looked at him curiously, as though he'd said something important and Ed wasn't paying attention. Ed gave him a quizzical look and Mustang repeated himself.

"You may kiss the bride," Mustang repeated, slightly impatiently.

"K-k-k-kiss?" he whispered, softly, his heart racing and his face turning bright red as he tried to think of what he was supposed to do next, when Mustang leaned in and told him.

"Lift her veil and kiss her," he whispered into his ear.

Ed couldn't stop blushing and he lifted the veil, slowly, with shaky hands, Winry looked at him, tears of joy streaming down her face as she smiled at him.

"I've been waiting for you, Ed," she said softly, before he leaned in slowly and took her face in his hands, his palm resting on her lower jaw bone as he came closer and closer and closer, until their lips met in an ultimate moment of love and togetherness never before experienced by either person.

The two newlyweds wrapped their arms around each other, kissing for so long, when they broke the kiss, they gasped for air.

Once they broke the kiss, the entire group broke into applause and everyone cheered and began throwing rice in celebration. As all this happened, all Ed could think of was how Pinako had told him he was going to say goodbye to Winry.

"Hey Granny," he said to her.

"Yeah?" she said, looking at him indifferently.

"Why'd you lie to me?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"When did I lie to you?" she retorted, calmly.

"You told me I was going to say goodbye to her," he said, setting his hands on his hips.

"No, if you'll remember, I said you're going to say goodbye to Winry ROCKBELL," Pinako said, pointing her pipe at him. "Which, if you haven't noticed, is exactly what you did. You said goodbye to Winry Rockbell and hello to Winry Elric."

Ed's eyes widened and he realized that all of the things he'd thought were lies from her, were actually truth that he'd just mistaken due to his dream. But, as he thought, he became confused about something and decided to present it.

"So why couldn't I see her until now? And why didn't she answer her door when I knocked last night?" he asked.

"Don't you know it's bad luck to see the bride in her dress and it's also bad luck to see each other, especially on the night before," Pinako replied. "Besides, we don't need you getting any more bad luck, now do we?" she said, knocking on his still-automail leg.

After that, Ed felt satisfied but still couldn't help but be frustrated with Pinako for allowing and ensuring and encouraging his confusion the day before. Despite the frustration, however, he was too happy to care anymore and happily enjoyed the rest of the ceremony with Winry and even Al had come home to stay with them, while Mei stayed in the hotel in town.

After the ceremony and after party, the group all met at the Rockbell House and all of their friends gave them their gifts and apologized for being unable to stay longer than they had. After everyone was gone, Ed stayed up into the early morning hours with Winry, just holding her and reveling in the fact that, after so long, he finally could hold her. His girl, His wife. His Winry.

He looked down at her as she rested her head on his thighs while he sat on the couch and she lie down, stroking her beautiful blonde hair and smiling down at her.

"Say Ed," she said, half asleep.

"Yeah, Win?" he said, stopping playing with her hair for a moment.

"I was thinking about either changing the name of this shop or getting a new one in Rush Valley," she said, softly.

"What name?" he asked, confused.

"I was thinking 'Full Metal Automail' sounds good," she said with a smirk. "What do you think?"

"I think it's perfect," he said, brushing her hair from her face with his hand.

"I want you to promise me something," she said, looking up at him.

"Anything for you," he said, kissing her.

"Please stop running around so much," she said softly. "I don't want to cut you off or anything, but I don't know if, now that we're finally married, I can keep waiting for you."

Ed thought about it for a moment, uncertain of what to say, momentarily. After a moment's thought, he made his decision.

"Alright," he said, finally. "I'm done going off on adventures. Unless you're with me."

He smiled.

"No," she said. "You're a trouble maker. It's time we settled down anyway. Besides," she paused. "I was thinking... Maybe kids?..."

Ed couldn't contain his happiness, scooping his wife into his arms and kissing her deeply.

"Of course," he said, with a smile.

Winry beamed at his response and the couple happily embraced, ready to take the adventure, that was the rest of their lives, head on.


End file.
